ADVANTAGES OF MULTIMEDIA IN THE CURRICULUM

   I have elected to incorporate multimedia into the  curriculum by using

    my website  http://saponar.blogspot.com  to create an online course

   which is tailored on my students needs.   The primary benefits of

   this methodology are to:

 

- Develop a community of learners through online activities, like videolessons and interactive tests and quizzes (http://quizlet.com)

- Help students visualize concepts more easily, with dynamic mindmaps (http://ExamTime.com)

- Provide authentic assignments, like reading a CNN article on "virtual reality", followed by a video and a discussion in class

- Enhance accessibility, ie. absent students can keep up to date on what we have done in class

- Encourage collaboration and feedback (http://socrative.com)

- Help students document and present their learning through authentic assessments

  (http://prezi.com, http://wideo.com)

 ADVANTAGES

Using multimedia has proved to have many advantages:

 

- Multimedia in class boosts motivation and self esteem.  Students take pride in learning new technology and enjoy using it in a creative way

- Students enjoy the instant feedback of multimedia and the relevance to their everyday lives

- Using multimedia gives students active, participatory roles in the classroom. They make decisions and control technology

- Multimedia encourages students to collaborate, hence develop teamwork and learning skills from their peers

- While using multimedia students often think more critically about their own progress and abilities

- Presentation is just as crucial as the content.  It is important for students to express themselves 

through video, audio or animation. Students can learn these design skills through first hand experience with educational multimedia.

ENGAGING TEACHING/LEARNING APPROACHES

 

Incorporating multimedia into my classes has also helped me adopt engaging teaching/learning approaches such as:

 

1. Collaborative learning:  Digital collaboration in learning activities is a fun, engaging way to learn that prepares students for success in the  work place.

 

2. Competency Based Learning:  This approach allows students to advance at their own pace, based on their ability to master a skill or competency. I have tailored my online course saponar.blogspot.com to meet different learning abilities; this has lead to more successful student outcomes.

 

3. Social Learning:  Many of today’s digital learning tools and techniques incorporate a social element: blogs, Facebook, etc.

 

4. Flipped Teaching and Learning:    Although the "Flipped" method of  instruction is not a revolutionary approach (it is rather relabeling of many existing and accepted teaching strategies),  it has definitely proved to be a successful and fun way to teach and learn: removing the traditional class teaching from the process has freed up time for both teacher and student, allowing everyone to get on with in-depth, creative projects that are driven by personal interests.